


Hinei ma Tov

by kuzujuk



Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-21
Updated: 2018-09-21
Packaged: 2019-07-14 23:56:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16051220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kuzujuk/pseuds/kuzujuk
Summary: It's Jinchuuriki bonding. Imagine if Gaara and Naruto had actually had a conversation in that one flashback episode in Shippuuden. Does "delicately removing someone's pestering hand from your shoulder" count as holding hands?





	Hinei ma Tov

Gaara takes a watch, and Naruto volunteers to join him. There's a good vantage point on a boulder that overlooks the lake, and Gaara doesn't object when Naruto sits next to him there. 

They're just quiet for a while. Gaara’s presence is completely different from what Naruto remembers. None of that churning, bloodthirsty energy. He's just quiet, like the night air. His head is tilted back a little, watching the moon. He sits so still it makes Naruto want to fidget twice as much. 

“So, hey, listen,” Naruto says, when it gets to be too much. “You seem different.”

“Yes. I have been trying.”

“Huh?”

Gaara turns his head to look at Naruto, and he's frowning, but his voice sounds earnest. “I have to thank you, Naruto. For the things that you said. I don't know that I have made any friends, but I have my siblings.”

“You have  _ siblings _ ? How do you get  _ siblings?”  _

Ok, maybe it's a stupid question. It sounds stupid once he says it. He does technically know how siblings happen. Sakura or Sasuke would tell him how dumb it is, but Gaara doesn't. He just says, serious, “Temari and Kankuro are my siblings. We had the same parents. For a long time, I didn't think of them as family. But we are family now.”

Naruto makes a face, not really on purpose. “That weird makeup dude is your family?” 

_ Naruto, rude!  _ says Sakura’s voice in his head. Gaara just nods. 

“Man, that's so weird. But cool, I guess? If you're not alone anymore?”

“Yes,” Gaara says. “Cool.” 

“Dude, that's awesome! Right? See, I told you.” To be honest he doesn't even remember what exactly he told him, but he's sure it was awesome. After all, they're sitting here talking, and Gaara has been a totally different flavor of weird since they met up than he used to be, and this flavor is zero percent fatal. So chalk that one up as a Great Naruto Success. “And you totally do have a friend, also!” 

Gaara tilts his head in a question, and Naruto grins, pointing at his own chest with two thumbs. “Who do you think, dummy? It's me, the great Naruto Uzumaki! Someday I'll be Hokage and you can tell everyone you're my friend!” 

Gaara looks away quickly, but Naruto is sure he saw a smile. He pokes Gaara in the shoulder as an experiment, and when he doesn't get a defensive sand reflex he pokes him in the cheek. Gaara doesn't slap him away, just lifts a hand and gently removes Naruto’s, like someone unhooking a kitten from a couch cushion.

“I thought you had like a special coating,” Naruto says, a little disappointed. “That's just skin.” 

“The special coating is very taxing,” Gaara explains. “I don't have infinite chakra.” 

“We  _ kinda  _ do, though. Us. You and me.” 

“ _ Kinda _ is not enough. I use it only for serious threats.”

Naruto makes a rude noise and throws himself to the ground. “I’m a serious threat. You had to use it for Lee and he's, like, cool and all, but I could beat him in a fight, like if I  _ had  _ to. If I was going all out, I bet.”

“We are not fighting.” 

“We could be.” It’s suddenly very tempting: something more exciting than sitting here, watching the sky. “Bet I can beat you again.” 

Gaara doesn't respond. Chicken. Naruto settles for groaning loudly to indicate that he is bored. 

“Us,” Gaara says. “You and me.”

“Huh? What?” 

“ _ We,”  _ he places special weight on the word. “The two of us. You helped me, because we are the same.”

“Yeah, so?” 

He's definitely smiling now, Naruto can hear it in his voice. “I was never the same as anyone before.” 

“Yeah.” Naruto lets himself take a deep breath, letting the need to fidget go with the air from his lungs. “Me neither. I didn't know they did it to, like,  _ multiple  _ people. I was so pissed off when you told me. I mean, like, I thought you were gonna kill us and I was super freaked out? But once I actually thought about it, I was pissed.” 

“I'm sorry,” Gaara says. “I was unpleasant.” 

_ Unpleasant.  _ This new version of Gaara is so careful about everything. Maybe that's what happens when you're trying to make friends after six years of killing people. A better word might be  _ awful,  _ but was it Gaara that was awful, or was it the thing someone did to Gaara when he was a baby? 

“How did they even expect us to control it?” Naruto says, his voice ringing out loud over the water. “Like, nobody  _ told  _ me. Did anybody ever tell you? Like, hey, so, maybe you noticed everyone hates your guts, just so you know, it's because you're a  _ monster. _ ” 

Gaara is quiet for a moment. Just when Naruto thinks he's not going to answer, he says, “They did tell me I was a monster. That much, they told me.” 

“Yeah, but did they say  _ why? _ ” 

“No. Not at first.”

“Exactly! So how is it our fault? Nobody told us.” 

“After,” Gaara says, and stops. “That is, I did something terrible. And after that—I knew after that. And I suppose it was—easier. To be a monster.”

“Yeah, see? Tell us  _ before.  _ It's not fair. It's not  _ fair,”  _ he repeats, because Gaara's shoulders are tense and he's not responding. “They shouldn't have left you alone.” 

Gaara says nothing. Naruto glares at the sky for a minute, fuming, and then he sits up, leaning forward so he can see Gaara’s face. It doesn't help much. He's just frowning like always. 

“Hey,” Naruto says. “Hey!” 

Gaara blinks at him. “Yes,” he says, just a whisper. “You, as well.”

“Say what?”

“They shouldn't have left you alone.”

“Damn  _ right  _ they shouldn't, but you know something, though? I made sure they never forgot I exist. You know how?”

He gets to see the smile this time. It's just a shadow of a smile, but it's there. “Please, tell me.” 

“Well, ok, spoilers, I never killed anybody, but anyway, so, this one time—”

Something he's not used to: Gaara  _ listens  _ to him. Really listens, like he's absorbing every word. Soaking up everything Naruto says, to remember later. Like Naruto’s disjointed narrative of pranks and pratfalls is  _ important.  _ It loosens knots in Naruto’s chest that he didn't know he still had. To have a friend who grew up the same, another kid who's just like him but also completely unlike him—is this what people mean by  _ family? _


End file.
